Camp Wilderness
July 11th through July 18th
Park Rapids Minnesota
Mr Martin's Summer Camp Blog
So I'll start right off with the big news that surprised me.... Mr Schwartz and I survived day one on our own and we didn't loose any scouts. In fact, all had showers and theoretically brushed teeth too. :)
All in all it was a great day though the weather kept playing tricks with us and every time we had something such as photos or a camp tour it broke out raining. It all started this morning though when A decent system came through about 5:30am which made it into a few of the tents and also rinsed out some shoes that were left outside. We did a little tent maneuvering though and we think things should be better now.
Breakfast was great, scouts played carpet ball and several group games around the campsite followed by lunch and then our swim test which everyone passed who wanted to take the text. Tonight the dinner was picnic style, hamburgers/chips/beans/salad and the Cub Scouts who camp down the lake a ways made the trek to join us so both camps all ate together. Needless to say, but there were quite a few people which made it fun.
After dinner all the SPLs and adults had meetings to discuss the week, we reviewed all the merit badges with the Scouts and made some tweaks on a couple, and everyone purchased their kits already for their merit badges. I think the scouts are pretty anxious to start the merit badges tomorrow. Might be to learn, might be from a break from the adult leaders.
The day ended with an opening fire where the camp councilors did skits. As usual, some were great, some were cheesy, and some where... interesting. :)
That's all for now, 7:15 breakfast for Troop 21 is going to come way to early.
First day of merit badges is in the books! Always an air of disappointment it seems, scouts look forward for months to shoot a shotgun and day 1 is a safety video. Motorboating, not until Wednesday, Archery... nope.. and so on. They did fine though and everyone made it to where they were supposed to be.
Today I did learn a few tidbits when taking photos and eavesdropping on sessions, but I think the biggest lesson was from Scott when he rightfully determined the weather reports up here are meaningless. At 7am he checked the weather for the day and looked at radar: Good chance for a 3pm storm, nothing on the radar. An hour later at flag ceremony it poured on us but was great the rest of they day. Not even close. All is well though, even with some rain the scouts are in great spirits.
Beyond the merit badges there was a carpet ball tournament that had a singles and doubles teams, one entry per troop. Our singles person was Devon Parker and the team was Jake Schwartz/Lucas Neilson. While we we didn't place, the scouts did great. Dinner was hotdogs/chips/cookies/beans that we made back in the site over a campfire, after which everyone headed down to the waterfront for some open swim time. Slight issue with a tipped canoe, apparently when canoes are 1/2 full of water they tip VERY easily.
Low battery, need to go....
So today started off VERY early. There is a special patch called the Hot Tamale and if you do a polar plunge at 6am (this morning), followed by the climbing wall at 6am tomorrow, and a final task of something at the fishing peer on Friday, you get a very cool looking patch. We had 10 interested last night, but at 5:45 upon wake up call we lost one so nine of us walked down to do the plunge. The photo below is the before photo (hence the not-quite-awake look yet) and the second photo of the dock area is when people started lining up. When we were finished lining up the whole dock was filled and we all jumped.
That was followed by some quick showers by most, breakfast, and then a troop photo was taken by the camp, but we also snapped one with mine which I added below.
Most sessions went well, afternoon shotgun and water sports were canceled though due to thunder, so again, mild disappointments, but tomorrow is another day.
This evening was free time, lots of kids swam, some played carpet ball.. and two of us hid in the adult lounge. Not say'n who... :) Tonight is also when the Wilderness Survival scouts get to go sleep outside under the stars. At 9pm they leave for the night to go build a shelter and test their skills, so if you know of any anti-rain dances, now is the time. Maybe toss in an extra wiggle to help with the mosquitoes.
That is all for now.
Hello and welcome to the end of day three of merit badges. Tis was a GREAT day because nothing was canceled. Once again though the day started off early because this morning was the climbing tower for the Hot Tamale badge and the camping people needed to climb the tower to satisfy a requirement. This was after several of them also did the survival night outside, so after walking back from survival there was little time to think before turning around to walk all the way out to the climbing wall. Unfortunately there was a very long line and only some of us made it through, so we ventured back on free time and finished the requirements.
Just a heads up, we will be returning the scouts tired. :)
Oh!! I totally forgot to mention that yesterday and today the scouts received a 100% on their camp inspections. They've worked very hard on getting the site picked up everyday and the work keeps paying off.
Dinner was picnic style for the scouts, but the adult leaders where served an appreciation meal of a stuffed pork chop and mashed potatoes. It tasted good, but I keep seeing scouts carry tater tots around outside. Slightly jealous of that.
After dinner Joey gave me tips on carpet ball so I could beat Connor, which I was finally able to, but then it was time to head back to practice skits for the fire tonight which was quite nice. Our troop did get quite a few laughs from their skit and if it good enough, they get to be on stage for the closing ceremony on Friday.
That is all for now, tomorrow we get to sleep in all the way to 6:50.
Too tired last night to write an e-mail, could not guarantee what I would write would be understandable so I tabled it until this morning. :)
Yesterday was fun though and started off well. Scouts were pretty excited about "sleeping in" until 6:45am because we did not have a Hot Tamale requirement to do and the weather was great. The shotgun merit badge scouts were able to shoot 'Patience', a double barrel muzzle loader that they had to load their selves. Motorboating people were also able to get out and actually play with the boats a bit. During free time two of the scouts passed their driving test on the first try and so today they get to just play. I'll be heading out with the other scout today finish up pre-class too.
The big disappointment for the day though was once again weather related. The iron man competition was delayed due to thunder which pushed it right over when the troop was to head to the rifle range for fun group activity. As 8pm rolled around it was pretty clear that neither was going to happen as rain and thunder just kept coming. Iron man was rescheduled for today at 1pm so if you get this in time, wish us luck.
This morning though the Hot Tamale's were up at 5:40 and fishing by 6:05. Several were caught by our troop and I think everyone that went did enjoy it. In the end 9 scouts earned the title.
As for pickup, flag ceremony is at 7am followed by breakfast and checkout. It appears we may be leaving here at 8am and if everything goes smoothly, sometime between 12 and 1 is the expected return time at the church.
See photos of Camp Wilderness Summer Camp 2015 here!